A recent article describes a current project to “renovate and restore” the Twin Towers neighborhood, focusing on the 500 block of Xenia Ave which CityWide Development has identified as the “best location for economic development along the corridor.”
New Hope Project, Inc. is planning a $4 million effort and recently submitted an application through the regional Priority Development and Advocacy Committee (PDAC).
Its first target is the Federation Block at 528 Xenia Ave, the former site of a theater and a series of interconnected buildings built in the 1920s that occupy a whole block.
County commissioner Mary McDonald said that “by transforming the Federation Block into a thriving business hub, New Hope Project, Inc. will not only restore a landmark but also create much-needed jobs, attract investment, and bring essential services closer to the people who need them most.”
New Hope Church is located at 512 Xenia Ave, and has grown from its early days with “six people and a prayer circle” to a group of about 150 attending services each Sunday and serving as a community anchor for the Twin Towers neighborhood.
Pastor Jeff Cartwright bought a home just a block away from the church, saying that “we want to be part of the transformation in a real way.”
The redevelopment project is an extension of what began as the church’s fundraising arm, which “morphed into a way to encourage economic and workforce development opportunities in the neighborhood.” Cartwright explains that the larger vision is also “to attract businesses, services and food options.”
I’ve written before that the classic neighborhood business district, once ubiquitous all through town, is today an endangered species in Dayton. The only two intact examples remaining are often said to be East Fifth St in the Oregon District and West Third St in Wright Dunbar. I wrote in another piece that North Main in Santa Clara is the next compact area with the most surviving historic commercial buildings (and it’s recently been added to the National Register but much work remains to return the structures to productive use and benefit the area.)
But Xenia Ave is another early commercial corridor with one of the longest stretches that remains uninterrupted by highways or large-scale urban renewal clearance. It’s still filled with a variety of interesting commercial, residential, and even industrial buildings all co-mingled together.
The larger Twin Towers neighborhood, on the other hand, was significantly impacted by the construction of US-35 which cut it off from the Historic Inner East and St. Anne’s Hill to the north. A recent study by CityWide showed that the area’s median household income is $18,315 and its unemployment rate is 9.5%.
New Hope’s effort has involved extensive research into community needs, as they’ve hosted five focus groups and launched a community survey to help guide their work.
History of the Federation Theater
In the mid-1920s, the Dayton Federation Realty Company built the series of buildings covering the entire stretch of Xenia Ave between Steele and Fillmore.
Federation Building 12 Dec 1926, Sun Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) Newspapers.comOne advertisement called it the “most notable suburban improvement witnessed in Dayton in recent years” and that “units for store purposes, a good sized theater auditorium, office rooms, a modern location for a branch bank, and garage space, make up one great unit, covering an entire block (which) presents a new physical appearance to a thriving neighborhood” (DDN 9/19/26).
The bank was the City Trust and Savings Co. and the auditorium was part of the Federation Theater.
The Federation Realty Co also built at least two other buildings that still stand in Dayton, the Federation Building at 1922 Brown Street in 1928 and the Riverdale Theater on North Main Street in Santa Clara.”
That all three of these structures has survived to the present day in entirely different areas of the city is remarkable given the fate of the majority of Dayton’s old commercial districts as well as its neighborhood theaters.
Author Curt Dalton wrote about the history of the Federation Theater in his book When Dayton Went to the Movies:
“Opened on November 17, 1926, Mr. & Mrs. Philip Semelroth spared neither time nor expense in making the new amusement center the best offered outside the downtown area. The theater sat 700 people and was the largest suburban theater in the area at the time. (Another source called it “largest suburban play house in southern Ohio.”) A $15,000 Page organ manufactured by the Page Organ Co in Lima, Ohio sang along with the silent films that were being offered.
“The theater continued to prosper, especially after the installation of sound equipment to show “talking” pictures. The Federation was well known as the place to go to watch cowboys in the 1940’s since many times either the first or second feature on the double billing was a western.
‘The Federation would show the Cisco Kid or Black Bart.’ claims Bill West, who used to hang out there when he was a kid in the late 1940’s. ‘Roy Rogers was one of my favorites. Then they’d have a Blondie movie or something, followed by a Batman or Flash Gordon serial'” (Dalton).
An article in the Dayton Daily News showcases the “neighborhood pride” evident in various Xenia Ave Storefronts as of the late 1920s 19 Apr 1928, Thu Dayton Daily News (Dayton, Ohio) Newspapers.com In 1963, a new theater company owned by John Holkan of the Sigma and Palace theaters and John Keyes of the Victory theater took over the operation of the Federation. It was sold to Charles Hertel five years later who renamed it Gem Cinema, but it closed soon after in early 1968.
After the closure developers converted it into three apartments. The proposed redevelopment by New Hope aims to return the grand building to its original mixed-use nature and also its status as a strong community anchor.
Other Xenia Ave Redevelopment Efforts
New Hope isn’t the only community group active on the corridor. The nonprofit East End Community Services which provides “wrap-around services that promote education, financial stability, health and community,” had planned to renovate two interconnected warehouses at 606 and 608 Xenia next to its home at 624 Xenia Ave.
The $6.4 million project would create a new service hub including classrooms, offices, a computer room, and space for programming.
But that project later fell apart after the real estate purchase didn’t move forward, due to the fact that “the owner was not ready to sell and move out of the warehouse properties.”
East End then pivoted to a plan to expand its current facility including building an addition and renovating its upstairs space.
Executive director Jan Lepore-Jentleson has said it’s “a community center, but more importantly, it’s a place where families can grow and be successful” and “the kind of facility … that the East Dayton community deserves.”
East End’s building was previously Xenia Feed and Pet Store and the organization moved into it in 1998.
In 2021 I also wrote about a project to redevelop the building at 600 Xenia Ave, in between the East End and Federation buildings, which was formerly the home of Wellmeier Hardware.
With such a strong push to revitalize the corridor, it will be exciting to follow the progress of Xenia Ave over the next few years.
Very interesting . Looking forward to seeing how these projects progress. As always, thank you for your efforts to preserve Dayton’s history and educate the public about Dayton’s greatness.
You’re very welcome and thank you for the kind words! I am really interested in these projects too as it’s such an interesting corridor and I think they could do a lot to uplift the neighborhood at the same time. I’ll be sure to write up some updates along the way.